• Korea’s Hye-seong Kim 김혜성 and Japan’s Koyo Aoyagi have been posted.

Per Kiwoom Heroes. The negotiating period will open at 8 a.m. ET Dec. 5, and close at 5 p.m. ET Jan. 3.

I guess MLB will let teams know at noon ET Wednesday, Dec. 4, after all. (Since it's late at night in ET no3 and league and teams wouldn't be working at this hour) https://t.co/KVZULgdJN7

— Jeeho Yoo (@Jeeho_1) December 4, 2024

RHP Koyo Aoyagi's 45-day negotiating window with @MLB teams has begun, after the Hanshin Tigers made his posting official.

Aoyagi, a sidearm starting pitcher, had 6.2 K/9 and a 1.307 WHIP over 114 innings this year. @MLBNetwork

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 4, 2024

• Lance Lynn lost 20 pounds.

Frustrated by knee trouble that last season limited him to 117 1/3 innings, his lowest total for a full campaign excluding the 2016 season he missed while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Lynn adjusted his training regimen. In a phone interview Wednesday, the 6-foot-5 right-hander said he has lost 20 pounds, dropping from 280 to 260.

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American League

Angels

Astros

• The GM expects outfielder Jacob Melton to contribute next season.

Melton split last season between Double-A Corpus Christi (58 games) and Triple-A Sugar Land (47 games) and slashed .253/.310/.426 with 15 homers and 30 stolen bases. His numbers were a tad better at Double-A, which is to be expected, posting a .748 OPS with Corpus Christi and .719 with Sugar Land. He spent time at all three outfield spots last season but played most in center field.

“Melton’s another guy that could be a big piece for us,” Brown said last month. “He’s a really good defensive outfielder with power. He has a chance to make an impact.”

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Previous deep starting pitcher profiles:

Luzardo, Keller, Myers, & Ortiz
Taillon, Harrison, Martinez, & Singer
Herz, Bassitt, Civale, & Bradford
Birdsong, Littell, Boyd, & Peterson

Read the rest of this entry »

Previous deep starting pitcher profiles:

Luzardo, Keller, Myers, & Ortiz
Taillon, Harrison, Martinez, & Singer
Herz, Bassitt, Civale, & Bradford

Skipped
Roki Sasaki Read the rest of this entry »

American League

Angels

• Kyle Hendricks will start the season in the rotation.

Minasian said Hendricks will start and be part of a rotation that’s also expected to include veteran left-hander Tyler Anderson and right-handers José Soriano and Jack Kochanowicz. They have other internal options, such as lefties Reid Detmers and Sam Aldegheri and right-handers Chase Silseth, Caden Dana, Sam Bachman and George Klassen. The Angels are still looking to add one more starter to that mix, and Minasian wouldn’t rule out bolstering the bullpen as well.

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Free Agents

• Some teams are considering using Jeff Hoffman as a starter.

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reported within his ranking of the offseason’s top free agents that some clubs have considered pursuing Hoffman as a starting pitcher. The Athletic’s Matt Gelb backs that up in his own report, further pointing out that Hoffman is represented the same agency (CAA) that represented Reynaldo Lopez during his own switch from the bullpen to the rotation last winter.

Notably, McDaniel opines that Hoffman is still likelier to sign as a reliever. It’s the role in which he’s dominated over the past two seasons, and while he’s not the No. 1 reliever in this offseason’s free agent class — most publications, including MLBTR, assigned that honor to lefty Tanner Scott — Hoffman has a case to be considered the No. 2 or No. 3 bullpen arm on the open market this winter.

As a reliever, Hoffman has three pitches that have great grades and results.

Pitch: SwStr%, BotOverall, Pitching+
Four-seamer: 15%, 67, 103
Slider: 21%, 49, 104
Splitter: 18%, 49, 107 Read the rest of this entry »

Free Agents

• Trey Mancini is attempting a comeback.

A comeback, Mancini realizes, is no easy feat.

But the fire that wavered after his life-altering and life-threatening cancer diagnosis has rekindled. He feels more well-rounded — there’s so much more than baseball — because the year away allowed him to work through what was “a lot to process.” Now, he hopes, a full offseason of work will lead him to one more opportunity to play the game he loves.

“Honestly, for a couple months, I thought I was going to be done. And I really enjoyed this year. I’ve enjoyed life. But at the same time I really do think I have something left to give the game,” Mancini said. “I’m going to prepare and act as though I’m going to spring training, and just hoping and trying and praying that the opportunity arises.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Previous deep starting pitcher profiles.

Luzardo, Keller, Myers, & Ortiz
Taillon, Harrison, Martinez, & Singer

Skipped
Roki Sasaki Read the rest of this entry »

Previous deep starting pitcher profiles:

• Luzardo, Keller, Myers, & Ortiz

Skipped:
Roki Sasaki Read the rest of this entry »

• Middle-infielder Hyeseong Kim wants to sign with an MLB team after playing in the KBO last season.

Infielder Hyeseong Kim, who stars for the Korea Baseball Organization’s Kiwoom Heroes, has hired CAA Baseball to represent him ahead of his expected move to Major League Baseball in the upcoming offseason, reports Jeeho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. (Kim’s name is commonly written as Kim Hye-Seong or Hye-Seong Kim, but Yoo further notes via X that CAA specifically informed him the infielder will go by Hyeseong Kim if he indeed moves to North American ball.)

Kim, who’ll turn 26 next January, is old enough and has enough experience in a major foreign league to be considered a “professional” under Major League Baseball’s international standards. He’ll be exempt from international amateur free-agent bonus pools and thus able to sign a major league contract for any length and dollar amount with an interested team.

The former double-play partner of current Padres infielder Ha-Seong Kim 김하성, the younger Kim is a lifetime .301/.361/.398 hitter in 876 games with the KBO’s Heroes.

…
Prior to the 2023 World Baseball Classic, Baseball America’s Kyle Glaser ranked Kim ninth among the top-ten MLB prospects for fans to track (landing behind current big leaguers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jung Hoo Lee 이정후 and Yariel Rodriguez). Glaser called Kim a plus defender at second base (and a capable defender at short) with a “preternatural feel for contact,” good pitch recognition and the ability to catch up to good velocity. At the very least, he could profile as a utilityman with high-end speed and contact skills, though it should come as little surprise if there are clubs who view him as a potential regular at second base. Given his age, Kim should find big league interest — particularly if he can continue his newfound power output.

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